Richard III was the last Plantagenet king, the line of kings that stretched back from Norman times. He would be succeeded by the first of the Tudor kings.
Quite extraordinarily, during early Plantagenet times – from 1189 to 1399 – the crown was passed down the same family line. However in 1399 Richard II decided to remove his cousin, from any claim on the throne. He forced Henry into exile. This caused great upset among the English nobles.
Richard II was not popular. This meant that, when exiled Henry invaded England in June 1399, his army quickly grew in numbers. Henry defeated Richard and had himself crowned as King Henry IV.
Henry had broken the royal line by taking the kingdom by force. Powerful nobles realised that from now on, anyone with any kind of royal connection could seize power.
Henry’s mother was Blanche of Lancaster and this is why Henry became the first King of England from the Lancaster branch of the Plantagenets. The other branch was those who belonged to the Yorkists. From now on it was going to be a difficult situation.
When Henry IV died in 1413 he was replaced by his eldest son Henry V. But in 1422 Henry V died quite young, and his son was still only a baby. Nevertheless, the nine-month old son became Henry VI.
Henry VI grew up to be a weak king and during his rule England gradually became poorer. His advisors were also corrupt and the general population wanted an end to it all. Eventually Henry VI was murdered and the direct Lancastrian line to the throne was ended. Edward (from the York branch of the family) was crowned as Edward IV.
Edward IV died unexpectedly in 1483. His son, just 12 years old, was next in line for the throne. Edward IV’s brother, Richard, was named as Protector of England. However, Richard succeeded in getting the prince’s claim rejected by Parliament and that is why it was Richard who was crowned on 6 July 1483.
Richard was king for two years when the final part of the drama unfolded.
Henry Tudor, who had been exiled for most of his life in France, was a distant relative of the Lancastrians, and so he had a slender claim to the throne. In 1485 Henry landed in Pembrokeshire, Wales, determined to win the throne for himself and the final battle between these two parts of the royal line ended at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 when Richard was killed.
